The Life Science Universities of Central and South Eastern Europe are the basis for sustainable, ecological and economic development of the region.
Chair: Prof. Dr. Jozef BULLA
Co-Chair: Prof. Dr. Ewa REMBIALKOWSKA
Presentations:
Chair: Prof. Dr. Josef GLÖSSL, BOKU Vienna, Austria
Co-Chair: Prof. Dr. Doru PAMFIL, UASVM, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
For the Biotechnology Session 16 abstracts were submitted, from which 4 were selected for oral presentations for the Thematic Session in Biotechnology. The first authors of the papers came from Slovakia (2 oral presentations + 8 posters), Romania (1 + 4) and Czech Republic (1 + 0).
The scientific topics presented in the Thematic Session were quite heterogeneous, ranging from boar and bovine spermatogenesis to antimicrobial activita of Strptomyces species and feeding techniques of cattle.
Iulian Ibanescu introduced into the topic of seasonal variation of sperm quality parameters in boar. In contrast to previous publications of other authors the outcome of the presented paper suggested that the standardization of exploitation conditions of boars by maintaining controlled climate conditions in the farm can reduce the effect of heat stress on spermatogenesis during summer. This potentially offers opportunities against and variations of sperm quality parameters and thus seasonal infertility during the year.
The presentation of Eva Tvrdá on antioxidant efficiency of resveratrol on oxidative stress- induced damage in bovine spermatogenesis nicely complemented the previous paper on boar spermatogenesis. As a take-home message of her presentation Eva Tvrdá suggested that resveratrol may be a suitable supplement for the in vitro management and preservation of male gametes. A lively discussion developed on the practical impact of both presented papers on spermatogenesis, resulting in ideas on establishing collaborations between both groups involved in the studies.
Silvia Kovácsová presented a study on the identification and characterization of Streptomyces species having antimicrobial activity against selected pathogens which where selected according to their importance in agriculture.
M. Psenka presented an ongoing project on a feeding technique called total mixed ration (TMR), which was on the thematic periphery of the biotechnology session. Main goal of the study was the investigation of the accuracy of dosing the individual components into the ration. It was shown and discussed that the precision of dosing was highly variable in different forage feeding systems.
Josef Glössl
Presentations:
Chair: Prof. Dr. JánGADUS,SUANitra,Slovakia.
Co-Chairs: Prof. Dr. Neculai MUNTEANU, UASVM Iasi, Romania.
Prof. Dr. Istvàn SZABO, SZIU Gödöllő, Hungary.
Altogether 9 oral and 5 poster papers were presented during the 3 sessions (IIa, IIb, Poster session II.). General scientific level of contributions was of high standard and scientific areas from the sustainability domain covered a relatively wide range from life-cycle assessment to different machinery evaluation. Discussions were active and gave chance for further enrichment of scientific dialogues. One of the key topics was the LCA (life-cycle assessment) procedures of different “hot spots” of agricultural technologies. Results were summarized for a tractor model, for maize silage production and a biogas plant (with different substrates). Other papers were introduced with numeric modeling of bioretention hydraulics in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and the analyses of littering at river banks of Danube in Austria. Two papers were addressing monitoring of environmental processes: tree physiological disorders were identified as climate change indicators and fish tissues (gill, kidney, liver) have been used for monitoring heavy metal pollution content in fresh water (river Körös/Crisul). A promising report showed results on investigating changes of wool fiber’s physical properties (especially humidity uptake) in samples irradiated with electron beam. A group of researchers worked on analyzing homogeneity of bulk-blended fertilizers during different logistic activities and made suggestions to minimize segregation of components with different nutrition/chemical content. Another presentation reviewed results of a desktop research work on efficiency parameters of different biomass (straw, wood, pellets and coal) combustion devices (boilers) used in Poland. Unit prices of generating 1 kWh thermal energy were calculated applying a simple financial model. Poster presentations were discussing focus areas of low emission economy in Poland, Chinese cabbage production in ecologic farming (Romania), vibration effects on tribological tests, ecological aspects of solar collectors and main pests effecting energetic Salix clone production (Romania).
Both oral and poster presentations enjoyed good attendance among participants (10-20/session) which shows evidence of increasing interests towards different ecological aspects of sustainable agri-food technologies.
Presentations:
Chair: Prof. Dr. Martin Gerzabek, BOKU Vienna, Austria
Co-Chairs: Prof. Dr. Peter Bielik, SUA Nitra, Slovakia
Twenty-eight abstracts were received for the Agrobiology session of which 15 applied for oral presentations and 13 for posters. Based on the abstract evaluation and final selection by the CASEE Board, Session I consisted of 10 oral and 12 (of which 3 did not show up) poster presentations.
The first authors of the contributions were from institutions from Austria (2 oral + 0 poster), Croatia (1 oral + 0 poster), Hungary (1 oral + 0 poster), Romania (6 oral + 4 poster), Slovakia (0 oral + 7 poster), Slovenia (0 oral + 1 poster).
During the three parts of Session I the number of participants in the auditorium varied between about 10 and 25, providing the opportunity for lively in-depth discussion of the presented themes.
The topics of the talks ranged from overviews on GIS-based modeling of soil resources and productivity (yield and diet gap assessments) in the whole Danube region (introductory talk by L. Rittler) to detailed studies of the interactions between soil management such as fertilization and phytosanitary treatment in pear nurseries (B. Bordeanu), the comparison of different conventional and unconventional treatments of vegetable crops against common blight within induced magnetic fields (C. Balint), and biostatistical evaluations of alternariosis attack in potato in specific climatic conditions in Romania (C. Malinas). Other contributions dealt with grassland mixtures containing or lacking alfalfa and their performance at various levels of NPK fertilization at an experimental site in Romania (A. Málinas), and the possible role of earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) as an antagonist for the pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (P. Euteneuer). Mycorrhizal associations were studied by V.H. Stoian who investigated the development and features of mycorrhizal networks in winter wheat as affected by differential mineral fertilization levels, and by Z. Mayer. The latter study focused on the beneficial effect of abuscular mycorrhizal colonization on stress responses of the plant partner as detected by lowered enzyme activities. Antioxidant enzyme levels in the blood of dairy cows as affected by solar radiation were reported in the presentation by D.L. Pusta, the genome of Pinzgau cattle in the Tatra mountains was investigated in the final talk by V. Šidlová.
The scientific level of the presentations – spanning manifold fields of agrobiology - was generally high even though a number of contributions might have benefited from more mechanistic explanation of the findings. The discussions generally focused on clarifications and discussion of methodological aspects.
Several poster presentations covered specific studies on management effects and environmental conditions on a variety of crops (e.g. strawberry, sunflower) and animals (dairy cow, trout). Other poster contributions were related to socio-economic aspects of bioeconomical activities, including subsistence farming as well as organic production and consumer behavior, and with technical solutions to enhance the economic and resource efficiency by precision farming.
Presentations:
